Effays on the Nature and Immutability of Truth, in Oppofition to Sophiftry and Scepticism; on Poetry and Mufic, as they affect the Mind; on Laughter, and Ludicrous Compofition; on the Utility of Claffical Learning. By James Beattie, LL.D. Profeffor of Moral Philofophy and Logic in the Marifchal College and University of Aberdeen. 4to. Dilly.

Having given an introductory account of this publication, and cited enough, of the author's Effay on Poetry and Mufic, to induce the reader to wifh for the perufal of the whole, we proceed to the next original tract in this inftructive and entertaining mifcellany, viz. that on Laughter and Ludicrous Coinpofition-This fubject our very ingenious author introduces with the following apology.

may

"Of man, it is obferved by Homer, that he is the most wretched, and, by Addison and others, that he is the merrieft animal in the whole creation and both opinions are plaufible, and both perhaps be true. If, from the acuteness and delicacy of his perceptive powers, from his remembrance of the paft, and his anticipation of what is to come, from his restless and creative fancy, and from the various fenfibilities of his moral nature, Man be expofed to many evils, both imaginary and real, from which the brutes are exempted, he does alfo from the fame fources derive innumerable delights, that are far beyond the reach of every other animal. That our pre-eminence in pleasure fhould thus, in fome degree, be counter-balanced by our pre-eminence in pain, was neceflary to exercife our virtue, and wean our hearts from fublunary enjoyment; and that beings thus befet with a multitude of forrows should be fupplied from fo many quarters with the means of comfort, is fuitable to that benign œconomy which characterifes every operation of nature. VOL. V.

M

"When

"When a brute has gratified thofe few appetites that minifter to the fupport of the fpecies, and of the individual, he may be faid to have attained the fummit of happiness, above which a thousand years of profperity could not raife him a fingle ftep. But for man, her favourite child, Nature has made a more liberal provifion. He, if he have only guarded against the neceffities of life, and indulged the animal part of his conftitution, has experienced but little of that felicity whereof he is capable. To fay nothing at prefent of his moral and refigious gratifications, is he not furnished with faculties that fit him for receiving pleasure from almost every part of the vifible univerfe? Even to thofe perfons, whofe powers of obfervation are confined within a narrow circle, the exercife of the neceffary arts may open inexhauftible fources of amusement, to alleviate the cares of a folitary and laborious life. Men of more enlarged understanding, and more cultivated taste, are stili more plentifully fupplied with the means of innocent delight. For fuch, either from acquired habit, or from innate propenfity, is the foul of man, that there is hardly any thing in art or nature from which we may not derive gratification. What is great, overpowers with pleafing attonishment; what is little, may charm by its nicety of proportion, or beauty of colour; what is diverfified, pleases by fupplying a series of noveltics; what is uniform, by leading us to reflect on the fkill difplayed in the arrangement of its parts; order and connection gratify our fenfe of propriety; and certain forms of irregu larity and unfuitableness raife within us that agreeable emotion whereof laughter is the outward fign.

"Rifibility, confidered as one of the characters that distinguish man from the inferior animals, and as an inftrument of harmless, and even of profitable recreation, to every age, condition, and capacity, of hu man creatures, must be allowed to be not unworthy of the philofopher's notice. Whatever is peculiar to rational nature, muit be an object of fome importance to a rational being; and Milton has obferved, that

Smiles from reafon flow,

To brute denied:
-Whatever may

be employed as a means of difcountenancing vice, folly, or talfehood, is an object of importance to a moral being; and Horace has remarked,

Ridiculum acri

Fortius et melius magnas plerumque fecat res *.

There is no doubt that ridicule, though it be not the test of truth, is a powerful evidence when aptly applied to the expofition of falichood: and though its attendant laughter be decried by certain affected and finical pretenders to witt, we ourselves cannot help regarding it as a diftinguishing characteristic of the Ridicule fhall frequently prevail,

And cut the knot when graver reafons fail.

Francis.

Among thefe may be reckoned a late celebrated earl; who held laughing, as Dr. Beattie obferves, to be monftrous vulgar; infifting that a gentle man could not, without breach of all decorum, proceed farther, on the utmolt provocation, than a bare SMILE.-Rifum teneatis ?

human

human fpecies; agreeable to that antient definition, of the fchools, homo eft animal rifibile.

"Let this apology" (fays Dr. Beattie) "fuffice for my choice of the prefent fubje&t. Even this apology might have been fpared," continues he; " for nothing is below the attention of philofophy, which the Author of Nature has been pleased to eftablifh."-Indeed, we think fo, and cannot help feeling great difguft at the aukward, not to fay impertinent, excufes, which philofophers fo often make on the like occafions, under the pretence of vindicating the ways of God to man; an infolent and impious pretence!

In treating this fubject our author proceeds to diftinguish between the ridiculous and the ludicrous, and to define the different kinds of laughter arifing from the different fpecies of rifible motives. He proceeds to examine, accordingly, the opinions of the philofophers on this head; particularly thofe of Ariftotle, Hobbes, Hutchefon, and Akenfide, on which, he obferves, that, though their theories be imperfect, they are not yet deftitute of merit.

"All these accounts," fays he, " agree in this, that the cause of laughter is fomething compounded; or fomething that difpofes the mind to form a comparison, by paffing from one object or idea to another. That this is in fact the cafe, cannot be proved à priori; but this holds in all the examples hitherto given, and will be found to hold in all that are given hereafter. May it not then be laid down as a principle, that "Laughter arifes from the view of two or more objects or ideas, difpofing the mind to form a comparison?" According to the theory of Hobbes, this comparifon would be between the ludicrous object and ourselves; according to thofe writers who nifapply Ariftotle's definition, it would feem to be formed between the ludicrous object and other things or perfons in general; and if we incline to Huchefon's theory, which is the best of the three, we fhall think that there is a comparifon of the parts of the ludicrous object, first with one another, and fecondly with ideas or things extraneous.

"Further: Every appearance that is made up of parts, or that leads the mind of the beholder to form a comparison, is not ludicrous. The body of a man or woman, of a horse, a fish, or a bird, is not ludierous, though it confifts of many parts;-and it may be compared to many other things without raifing a laughter: but the picture defcribed in the beginning of the Epiftle to the Pifoes, with a man's head, a horfe's neck, feathers of different birds, limbs of different beasts, and the tail of a fish, would have been thought ludicrous eighteen hundred years ago, if we believe Horace, and in certain circumftances would no doubt be fo at this day. It would feem then, that "the parts of "a laughable atfemblage must be in fome degree unfuitable and hete"rogeneous."

"Moreover: Any one of the parts of the Horatian monster, a hu man head, a horfe's neck, the tail of a fifh, or the plumage of a fowl, is not ludicrous in itself; nor would thote feveral parts be ludicrous, if

M 2

attended

attended to in fucceffion, without any view to their union. For to fee them difpofed on different fhelves of a mufeum, or even on the fame fhelf, nobody would laugh, except perhaps the thought of uniting them were to occur to his fancy, or the paffage of Horace to his memory. It seems to follow," that the incongruous parts of a laughable idea or "object must either be combined fo as to form an affemblage, or must "be fuppofed to be fo combined."

"May we not then conclude, that "Laughter arifes from the view "of two or more inconfiftent, unfuitable, or incongruous parts or cir"cumstances, confidered as united in one complex object or affem"blage, or as acquiring a fort of mutual relation from the peculiar manner in which the mind takes notice of them?" The following lines from Akenfide, feem to point at the fame doctrine:

66

Where'er the power of Ridicule displays

Her quaint-ey'd vifage, fome incongruous form,
Some ftubborn diffonance of things combined,

Strikes on the quick observer.

And, to the fame purpose, the learned and ingenious Dr. Gerard, in his Effay on Tafte: The fenfe of Ridicule is gratified by an incon"fiflence and diffonance of circumstances in the fame object, or in 26 objects nearly related in the main; or, by a fimilitude or relation "unexpected between things on the whole oppofite and unlike."

"And therefore, instead of faying with Huchefon, that the cause or object of laughter is an "oppofition of dignity and meannefs ;"— I would fay, in more general terms, that it is, an oppofition of fuit"ablencfs and unfuitablencfs, or of relation and the want of relation, "united, or fuppofed to be united, in the fame affemblage."―Thus the offices afcribed to the dagger of Hudibras feem quite heterogeneous; but we difcover a bond of connection among them, when we are told, that the fame weapon could occafionally perform them all.Thus, even in that mimicry, which difplays no oppolition of dignity and meanness, we perceive the actions of one man joined to the features and body of another; that is, a mixture of unfuitablenefs, or want of relation, arifing from the difference of perfons, with congruity and fimilitude, arifing from the famenels of the actions. Thus, at firft view, the dawn of the morning, and a boiled lobiter, feem utterly incongruous, unlike, and (as Biondello fays of Petruchio's ftir-. rups) of no kindred;" but when a change of colour from black to red is fuggested, we recognize a likeness, and confequently a relation, or ground of comparison.

And here let it be obferved in general, that, the greater the num ber of incongruities that are blended in the fame affemblage, the more Judicrous it will probably be. If, as in the lait example, there be an oppofition of dignity and meannefs, as well as ot likeness and diffimilitude, the effect of the contraft will be more powerful, than it only one of thefe oppofitions had appeared in the ludicrous idea.-The fublimity of Don Quixote's mind contratted and connected with his milerable equipage, forms a very comical exhibition; but when all this is till further connected and contrafted with Sancho Panca, the ridicule is heightened exceedingly. Had the knight of the lions been better mounted and accoutred, he would not have made us fmile fo often;

becaufe,

becaufe, the hero's mind and circumftances being more adequately matched, the whole group would have united fewer inconfiftencies, and reconciled fewer incongruities. No particular in this equipment is without its use. The afs of Sancho and the horse of his mafter; the knight tall and raw-boned, the fquire fat and short; the one brave, folemn, generous, learned, and courteous, the other not lefs remarkable for cowardice, levity, felfishnets, ignorance, and rufticity; the one abfurdly enamoured of an ideal miftrefs, the other ridiculoutly fond of his afs; the one devoted to glory, the other enflaved to his belly:-it is not eafy, out of two perfons, to make up a more multifarious contraft. Butler has however combined a still greater variety of uncouth and jarring circumftances in Ralpho and Hudibras: but the picture, though more elaborate, is lefs natural. Yet this argues no defect of judgement. His defign was, to make his hero not only ludicrous, but contemptible; and therefore he jumbles together, in his equipage and perfon, a number of mean and difgutting qualities, pedantry, ignorance, naftinels, and extreme deformity. But the knight of La Mancha, though a ludicrous, was never intended for a contemptible perfonage. He often moves our pity, he never forfeits our effeem; and his adventures and fentiments are generally interefting: which could not have been the cafe, if his ftory had not been natural, and himself endowed with great as well as good qualities. To have given him fuch a fhape, and fuch weapons, arguments, boots, and breeches, as Butler has bestowed on his champion, would have destroyed that folemnity, which is so striking a feature in Don Quixote: and Hudibras, with the manners and perfon of the Spanish hero, would not have been that paltry figure, which the English poet meant to hold up to the laughter and contempt of his countrymen.-Sir Launcelot Greaves is of Don Quixote's kindred, but of a different character. Smollet's defign was, not to expofe him to rid cule; but rather to recommend him to our pity and admiration. He has therefore given him youth, ftrength, and beauty, as well as courage and dignity of mind, has mounted him on a generous fteed, and arrayed him in an elegant fuit of armour. Yet, that the hiftory might have a comic air, he has been careful to contraft and connect Sir Launcelot with a fquire and other affociates of very diffimilar tempers and circumitances."

Our author proceeds to an enumeration of thofe ludicrous examples, which feem to confirm the propofition, that laughter arifes from the view of things incongruous united in the fame affemblage. Thefe he fpecifies as thofe of, ift, juxtapofition; 2d, as caule and effect; 3d, by comparifon founded on fimilitude; and 4thly, fuch things as are fo united as to exhibit an oppofition of meannefs and dignity.

To this doctrine, however, he prefcribes limitations; obferving that incongruity is not ludicrous, 1ft, when it is cufto mary or common; nor, 2dly, when it excites any powerful emotion in the beholder; fuch as moral difapprobation, indignation or difguft, pity or fear.-He confiders next the influ

ерсе